Things are still on the up for Research in Motion in Africa these days. As planned they have sucessfully opened a new retail store in computer village, Lagos, Nigeria.

Robert Bose, Regional Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa said, "As the leading smartphone provider in Nigeria and in Africa overall, our customers are our number one priority, so we are very pleased to cement our physical presence with local staff, establish a new legal entity and work with local business partners to expand our retail and customer care across Nigeria."

RIM, in association with mobile phone distributor Slot Nigeria, officially opened the BlackBerry® by SLOT store in Nigeria at Computer Village in Ikeja, Lagos yesterday, designed especially to provide Nigerian customers with a first-class, authentic BlackBerry purchasing experience, including free software upgrades from the facility in the Computer Village store. BlackBerry smartphones that can be upgraded to OS 7.1 include the BlackBerry® Bold 9900, BlackBerry® Torch 9810, BlackBerry® Torch 9860, BlackBerry® Curve 9360 and the BlackBerry® Curve 9380.

In the BlackBerry® by SLOT store, customers can find:

A full-range of live BlackBerry smartphones to try

Free device set-up and free software upgrade facilities

Fully-trained staff who provide expert advise and assistance

A BlackBerry Expert Center that offers leading after-sales service (all products sold in the store come with a 12-month warranty)

All BlackBerry smartphones purchased at the BlackBerry by Slot Nigeria store will be set-up for free and consumers will be provided with quick and easy steps to ensure that their handset is authentic, such as the start-up splash screen logo and an authentic seal on the BlackBerry smartphone's box.

As part of its expanded retail footprint and ongoing commitment to enhanced customer service RIM will provide software upgrade stations in 60 more retail stores nationwide., RIM also plans to introduce in-warranty repair and after-sales support in retail stores located in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt to help customers get the most of their BlackBerry smartphone. in addition to providing software upgrades, the drop-in centres will provide the full end-to-end service in a thriving retail environment, including parts, repairs, and replacements.

Commenting on the store opening Robert Bose added, "Today, BlackBerry is sold in about 300 retail stores nationwide. Our strategy is to continue working with local partners to help deliver a strong retail presence and after sales service that will provide our Nigerian customers with the optimal BlackBerry experience. With our new regional entity, we are looking forward to further cementing our relationship with the Nigerian market and working with our partners to support both our customer base and the transformation of the ICT industry in West Africa."

I have said it before and will say it again - I really think BlackBerry would benefit from a retail store here in the UK. With the amount of subscribers we have it makes perfect sense. What about it RIM - Central London should do?

Apple has been having way too many problems with their phones.
First .... they screw up the maps ... then the reception is all messed up .... it's a complete disaster!!!
I pitty those that wasted there hard working $200.00 on such a mess. People need to take their stores to a local apple supplier, and smash the phone right in front of them.

Jobs love his job and he do every thing for apple, the new ceo do what he can do....sooner or later they will change the team and the groove of jobs team is no longer there and apple will become a normal player. Nokia was like that, ericsson was like that, motorola was like that and many more....rim will make his way together with apple, nokia, and and and...me i will wait for BB10 looks cool and fresh....go rim

these things are cool shame ill never need to use one lol trained so heavily by RIM knowing everything and how it works made it so much easier for me to buy one when i got let go. Will be nice to learn how bb10 works differently compared to old OS and what my knowledge is good for lol.

think the story wasn't told correctly. SLOT SYSTEMS is a bohemoth in the Nigerian mobile phone retail business, with dedicated blackberry stores. So what RIM ∂i∂​ was leverage on SLOT presence to push out more of their products and services. By and large, ΐτ̅ really isn't a bad idea because if you take a rough estimate of BBs in Nigeria been used and activated on a daily basis, we are looking at a very sizable chunk of the smartphone market going to RIM in Nigeria. RIM didn't open a store here, they are just making an existing marketer a more recognised partner in their supply chain. What I'd like to see is Blackberry Jam coming to Nigeria. Inspite of the harsh economic realities here, we still love our blackberrys and I'm sure crackberry nation knows this. But its a good thing though, at least we are assured τ̅ђãτ̅ we won't miss the BB10 train. All aboard!!!! By the way a message for those stupid idiots abroad who call Nigerians scammers, you wouldn't know one even if he or she kicked you in the ass. Wake up and smell the roses, We are good hardworking people and we are survivors....so get a life!!!!

Just a thought. RIM has a good supply network in America, Europe and other countries because real time cashless economics work well. Hence carrier subsidies and the works. Not so for most African countries where owning a blackberry phone is now a way of life. Physical cash rules and a prepaid market is the only opton to go. So opening a shop or rather partnering with a huge dealer os a good thing for Nigeria and other developing nations. ℓ̊ really don't see what the fuss is about abroad. ℓ̊ mean you all can get a blackberry as easily as breathing but its not the same here. Of RIM so ΐτ̅ fit regardless of their current supply networks to open stores in the UK, Canada and every other place, I'm pretty sure, they would have..

Ok so SLOT has a bigger BB store, that's good SLOT is the biggest mobile phone dealer in Naij, who better to run things for RIM (or "run tins" as we say out here) in Naij! Weh done, mo gris to ya elbos!!:D

If only we had a store like this here in Mexico....
You can go to Best Buy, Sanborns, and other retailers and you will see the PlayBook with no power, if you are lucky to see it on a display planel anywhere.

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